I Love A Parade

Every year on the Sunday following St Patrick's Day, Park Slope Brooklyn has its own little St. Patrick's Day parade. This year's was bigger than any I've seen in the last 8 years.

My favorite part is the Irish Setters and the horses. Only this year there were no horses. The Irish Setters always make me smile.

And the O'Malley Irish Dancing School girls were fun what with the Marie Antoinette hair styles and the costumes.

The parade travels down the main shopping drag and then turns onto our street and marches right past our house. It always brings out the neighbors and today's sunny weather drew a little crowd.

This parade is one of three held each year. It's the most formal of the three, with all the Parochial Schools and Irish organizations, Scout troops and marching bands from NYPD, DSNY, etc.

The other parades are the Halloween parade - a loosely organized affair consisting mostly of a rag tag bunch of kids in their costumes, strolling down 7th Ave. with their parents (also in costume), their dogs (also in costume!!) and a small kazoo style band. That parade is hilarious and adorable at the same time.

Finally there's the Little League Baseball Season Opener parade. It's held on a Saturday morning and the Pee Wees are so cute you want to cry. That parade takes about 10 minutes and then all the kids go into Prospect Park to play ball!

It's a slice of small town America, right in the heart of Big City Brooklyn NY.

Potholder Swap!

Finito! Potholders in an array of bright crayon box colors. Definitely scratching some deeply rooted itch that never got scratched when I was a kid.

I longed for the giant box of Crayolas and it never arrived. Playing with this cotton yarn is my compensating measure. And the green/orange/chartreuse one on the left? Started on St Patrick's Day, while listening to my newest iPod download - The Chieftans, "San Patricio". An album destined to win a Grammy. Go get it. You won't be sorry.

So, there are actually six potholders in the group shots above, and that's because one of these didn't meet my quality standards and shall remain at home. The other five are on their way to a small town in Western MA, where they will join hundreds of other potholders arriving from around the world (yes, this is a global swap!!). In return, I will get five swapped potholders in the near future. I've been following along on flickr and Ravelry and all of the creations are simply stunning. I can't wait to see what comes back.

Making these potholders taught me the basics. I'm still a beginner, and want to dig a bit deeper. There are a few projects in mind that will expand on the new skills. For me, that's the most rewarding part - learning something new while participating in a virtual community event!

Zoe the Heart Thief

In late January an Important Friend celebrated a rite of passage by becoming a Grandparent. I learned of the upcoming event last Fall when he expressed his joy at the prospect of spoiling a little girl. Having only sons, I knew this made Zoe's arrival even more special.

The obscenely large yarn stash comes in super handy for events like this and a quick dive into the storage bins unearthed three perfect skeins of Berrocco Pure Merino Heathers in a lovely Cinnabar Lacquer. This yarn was begging to become a Zoe-baby knit because you see, I knew in my bones this kid would be born with black hair, given her half Korean genetics.

But what I didn't plan on was just how completely adorable she would be, that's for sure! Even when not wearing Knithound-made garments, this is one drop dead gorgeous baby! No wonder her Daddy is proud!

There was just enough yarn to make up a little shrug and a little pair of socks - both patterns came from Debbie Bliss's "Simple Baby Knits". And while the shrug took less than a week of effortless and thoroughly enjoyable knitting, I spent another two or three weeks in a sort of mad frenzy of thrifty frugality becoming all-hell bent on making an "extra something" that would round out the gift and use up every inch of that yarn.

Isn't Zoe devastatingly adorable in her color coordinated outfit? And the knits fit! For now anyway, with just enough room to get some more use before she outgrows it all.

I squealed in delight upon receiving these pics. She knows how to steal hearts, gazing right into the camera the way she does. Well, she stole mine, so I imagine she succeeded in stealing Grandpa's heart the minute he laid eyes on her. Welcome to the world, Zoe!

Comments and Replies

Hi everyone,

I love getting comments to my blog posts - it's great feedback and it makes me feel like I am engaging in more of a dialog than just talking into the wind.

I try to reply, even to just say 'thank you' for commenting. Blogger is frustrating in that sometimes I cannot locate an email to reply to.

I've taken to saving the email addresses that I do have, so I am building up the contact list in my gmail account. This is time consuming, as I haven't found a simple way to do it.

So if you don't hear from me, please don't think I am being rude. I simply cannot find a way to respond on a more personal level.

Thanks, have a great day!

Loopy

Cathy, Dawn, Lynn and I headed up to Loop yesterday, to spin and play with fiber. It was a FUN and FUNNY day!

What started out as this,

got some juice and blingy goodness added to it...

And was blended into this:

On the ride home, Dawn gave us her baby knitting prescription. Let's just say color coordinating for purple babies...might be a key ingredient! Speaking of key ingredients, sausages served in Parisian brasseries contain some sensitive Donkey parts, especially if you are an American tourist! Ask me how I know.

Circles and Circles

Last week was completely devoted to learning a new skill - crochet. For some reason, all previous attempts to figure out this craft eluded me and I struggled to 'read' the stitches. Well, I hunkered down and hooked and ripped and hooked and ripped. But I finally banged out a potholder.

The thing is, being able to see the mistakes meant I was learning to read the stitches and that makes all the difference.

I've got four more of these to make in the next two weeks, and I now think it's an achievable goal. And I'm glad I took the time to finally learn this one, because I have a few home-based projects in mind that would really be suitable in crochet.

I've also been thinking about people with a tendency to feign an air of mystery. When taken to the extreme, maybe it's a ruse to hide the fact there's nothing there! Intent without action is merely wishful thinking. Lack of action is simply this: nothing. And I've been putting way too much energy into something that is nothing. Better to focus on what's right in front of me, it's real and I always bet on real.

Coppertone Mitts

This is the one:

- where I made something nearly perfect and then nearly destroyed them.

- where I combined one of my favorite yarns with a wonderfully written pattern to make a project that hit all the high notes in my brief knitting life.

- where I was so excited about finishing the project I've worn them every day since mid-January.

- where I was wearing them last Tuesday and they smelled like gasoline after I filled the tank.

- where I popped them into a cool bath with some mild soap and a gray scarf with a coffee stain. (Oh virtuous me, getting all clean and everything.)

- where I went merrily about with that thing called my life. Involving on that day: yoga, groceries, cook, eat, clean, email, Olympics and doze on sofa. In that order.

- where I stagger into the bathroom and discover a Rubbermaid container with two distinct and growing pools of dye bleed - one rust, one gray. Like life seeping slowly out of these knits.

Yes. This is the one where the mitts are still here, a little beaten up, but still here. Just like me.

Connecting Randomness

Remember a couple weeks back I mentioned a stew obsession? It took on a life of its own and sent me to shop for a larger stew pot!

Yep, I bought the LeCreuset French Oven - happy surprise, it was on super sale over at Broadway Panhandler. Pretty, isn't it?

This stew makes a hearty meal for cold winter nights. I modified and adapted a recipe found in Martha Stewart's "Great Food Fast", Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2007.

Moroccan Chicken Stew with Couscous

About 2.5 lbs. skinless bone in chicken thighs (I use organic)
3 or 4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
3 or 4 onions, thinly sliced
1 large can whole peeled tomatoes, and use the juice in the can, too!
1 or 2 cans drained and rinsed chickpeas
Add in enough chicken broth to ensure the mix is covered. The tomato juice will add liquid, but you may need between 1 - 1.5 cups liquid. Use your judgement.
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground tumeric
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. chili powder
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
2 or 3 zucchini (about 1 lb.) halved crosswise and quartered lengthwise
Couscous.

1. In a Dutch oven or French oven combine the chicken, carrots, onions, tomatoes, chickpeas, stock and spices. Break up the tomatoes.
2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then cover and simmer on low about 20 minutes. Add in the zucchini and cook another 15 - 20 minutes. The chicken and carrots should be cooked by now, and the zucchini is tender without falling apart.
3. Boil about 1 cup water with a small dollop of olive oil and salt, add 1 cup couscous, stir, cover and set aside for about 5 minutes.
4. Divide the couscous evenly and spoon the chicken, vegetables and broth on top. Enjoy with a nice salad.

Your house will smell yummy and your tummy with thank you. The leftovers are even better.

To Conquer, To Reclaim and A Demise

The President's Day holiday was a perfect time for me to regroup and organize the projects. Over the weekend I finally finished a sweater that's been languishing for a very long time. Yay! I just need to get some buttons on this thing before the great reveal. Not that I haven't been wearing it non-stop since I finished and blocked it! I can't wait to show you all, because after sitting on the sidelines forever, I picked it up back in December and though I had a few battles before I wrestled it to the ground, I eventually got the upper hand and showed it who's boss around these parts!

With that sweater off the needles and moved into the finished column over on Ravelry (what a great, liberating thing!), I pulled out my giant black hole of a plastic bag, that enormous container to several unfinished projects, a bag full of swatches, items to frog and stray skeins of yarn. What a treasure trove that bag is!

With CathyZ keeping me company this afternoon, I frogged down a sweater,

one really awful feedbag of a hat,

an unfinished fail of a mitten,

and set upon some socks.

But stopped dead in my tracks when I found this:

Moths! In the socks! Last I saw these socks was oh, maybe about 18 months ago? The PhotoMan wore them but complained they rode down and balled up down under his foot. Not comfortable! I set them aside thinking I'd rip them down and re-knit using a smaller needle and maybe add ribbing.. you know, for greater pleasure. Heh!

Surprise! These socks were unwashed (doh, did I really think he would wash them before handing them back??) Moths love dirty wool. I guess they also like alpaca! This yarn was mostly alpaca with some nylon. Anyway, these are now history - too many holes to deal with and really, I have plenty of yarn (oh you don't say?!?!), so off to the trash these go. Now, I have another pair of socks in need of repair and I'll gladly put time into darning them, but not these.

Besides, there are new conquests in my sights right now to worry about holey socks. The latest obsession is to overcome my chronic crochet-itis condition once and for all. If nothing else happens to me in 2010, Crochet and I are going to become bff's for life.

And I finally launched my Chevron Love Mittens. I rocked the Latvian Braid, after much hemming and hawing...

Conicidentally, these got started on Valentine's Day! I predict good things but first, I need to pick up two circular needles because it quickly became evident wrestling with 8 balls of yarn AND double pointed needles would be an unnecessary disaster in the making!

You can see it's been a busy few days around here, what are you working on?

Random Thoughts

There's an ad on TV these days that caught my eye (and ear). It hits the nail squarely on the head. Don't we all feel exactly this way when we plug into our iPods?

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Last night the Spin City Group got together for some Show & Tell. You know how I was wondering what to do with the loom I picked up? Leisha has given me some serious inspiration.

These lousy BlackBerry shots don't do the shawls justice but let me tell you, these are gorgeous and they made me very happy. Such wonderful work.

Oh, and Dawn decided the IBM Atrium is the perfect place to hand card her fleece.

I love this. For so many reasons. It must be obvious to all of you, too. Seriously.

It's not a habit of mine to announce my New Year's Resolutions so you didn't see a list from me at the beginning of January. But one of them was a commitment on my part to attend these Meet Ups on a more regular basis. So far, so good. I have a blast every week, and who doesn't need more fun in their life, yo.

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And speaking of TV, I watched a movie over the weekend that had me so blown away I couldn't concentrate on my spinning. For the first time ever, I actually got up from the wheel to actively watch TV. It was Temple Grandin's story on HBO and I thought it was really powerful. I've been aware of her work for years, have been fascinated with how she thinks.

Now, having seen this biography, I have even more respect for her and her work. I may have been moved to tears over her statements about showing some respect to the animals we convert to food. Very compelling and thought provoking stuff.

Long Term Projects

Some projects have a very long lifespan and this is one of them. Put simply, the grand plan is to make a large knitted lace stole this year. Simple enough, but the path to that outcome requires a few steps. This is a Fleece to Stole project that actually began in October when I bought the fleece at Rhinebeck.

The featured breed at NY Sheep & Wool Festival 2009 was Leicester Longwool, a sheep that produces beautiful, lustrous, curly locks with a very long staple. Not to mention the curls make them completely adorable with their Rastafarian faces!

This is the breed George Washington and Thomas Jefferson imported from England to bolster their existing livestock in early days America. The breed that Robert Bakewell staked his claim to fame while developing selective breeding techniques. He created a hornless sheep with a square meaty body and straight top lines. He also sought out native stock with long lustrous wool. Sadly, over time the breed fell out of favor as other larger breeds came about. So by the time it was chosen as the featured breed at NY Sheep and Wool, the Leicester Longwool is considered a 'rare' breed. If you ever get to visit Colonial Williamsburg, you will see these sheep in the fields and paddocks.

I remember a field trip to Williamsburg back in Junior High School which was a very long time ago. Back then I was more interested in purchasing souvenirs and getting into trouble. Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind another visit now - just like I really want to get up to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. I'd say both trips are doable in 2010.

Anyway, back to my project. While at Rhinebeck I made a snap decision to purchase a small fleece, a first shearing from a ewe lamb named Sarah, who lives at Heritage Hill Farm in Illinois. I mean, how can you not buy a fleece with a name and it was so cute in the Trader Joe's bag, all smelly in a nice sheepy way. The thing that caught my eye: she was very clean, shiny and had lovely lock formation. And most important to me, at only 2.3 lbs, she was very manageable as my first fleece.

I also picked up 8 oz of pre-washed locks from another supplier, only because I didn't see the fleeces first. More on this bag of locks later.

The first step involved washing the fleece to remove the grease. I've heard that Merino fleeces are super greasy. This little fleece was the complete opposite, thank goodness! I used lingerie bags and a large Rubbermaid container with multiple changes of hot water and Dawn to release the dirt and grease. On average it took two or three soaks and a rinse or two to come clean. And I suppose it can be cleaner, but it's pretty good the way it is. I set out each lingerie bag on an old window screen straddling my bathtub to dry and then put it all away after the Holidays.

All the while I pondered how I wanted to approach the fiber. Each step has choices, each step is new to me. I did a ton of research on the Ravelry Fiber Prep board and watched a few You-Tube videos before deciding this fleeced needs to be combed. A bit labor intensive, and prone to some waste, but the result is beautiful, even, shiny fiber that will spin like a dream.

Here you can see how gorgeous Sarah the lamb fleece is, after a bath. Very lustrous and clean, virtually no vegetable matter.

I'm super super lucky to have generous friends. CathyZ has a nice set of fleece combs and she was willing to teach me how to use them and then let me borrow them nearly indefinitely. So, one Saturday last month I ventured over to her house for a combing lesson.

We combed and combed, and then we dizzed and dizzed. And we made little clouds of lovely fiber. I went home thinking this is crazy, it's exhausting and time consuming and what in the world am I doing attempting this for myself?!? I really wasn't sure I wanted to tackle this project! So daunting!

But over the last few weeks I've gotten more comfortable with the process and if I take it in one or two hour chunks, I realize I can get through this phase. And I've worked out a bit of a routine.

I find that laying out the locks onto a cookie sheet, aligned in three rows, with all the butt ends in one direction seems to work. I then give the locks a bit of spritz (water mixed with a few drops of essential oil) to reduce the static.

Then I lash on about half the cookie sheet's worth of locks onto a comb and work these locks about 4 passes back and forth. I've stopped using a diz altogether because it hurt my right wrist - all that pulling. My little rolags are just okay. I don't think I will win any prizes for my rolags but they will spin up fine.

So I'm over halfway through that 8 oz bag of pre-washed fleece and I have the entire Sarah the Lamb. And I've learned there is a marked difference between the two. The lamb fleece is immaculate compared to the pre-washed locks. I've picked out lots of vegetable matter, second cuts and brittle sections while combing these locks. Which only means by the time I get to combing out little Sarah, it will be so wonderful it will seem like I've been upgraded to first class and I won't mind the journey nearly as much from that seat!

A word or two on the plan: I intend to comb the entire lot, then spin the rolags into a 2-ply laceweight yarn. From there I will dye the yarn, and then knit up a rectangular lace stole. The leading contender for pattern is Myrtle Leaf Shawl with Willow Border from Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby, which calls for 950 yards of laceweight yarn. None of this is committed as I want this process to evolve. I'll delve into these ideas in future posts.

Right now I want to get back to more combing on this SNOWMAGEDDON (hello, Brooklyn - 1 INCH???) afternoon.